OREGON — Just seven months after Rich Wiesner bought the Maxson Manor on the banks of the Rock River in Oregon, the restaurant went up in flames.

The blaze started in the basement of the turn-of-the-century mansion on March 27, 1993, just hours before a wedding reception was to be held there. Flames spread through the building and destroyed it.

“Great luck, huh?” Wiesner said this week, recalling his tenure with the Ogle County business. “I thought I was wiped out.”

Instead, Wiesner invested nearly $750,000 into building a new 6,000-square-foot restaurant on Illinois 2 on the north edge of Oregon. He’s run the Maxson Restaurant and Riverboat since it reopened in September 1994.

But now Wiesner, 66, is retiring. He oversaw his last cruise on the riverboat Sunday and will close up the restaurant for the final time after dinner Thursday. The future of the Maxson Restaurant and Riverboat is unclear, but Wiesner has no doubts.

“It’ll sell,” he said this week. “It’s just a special spot. People were here before me, and they’ll be here after me.”

There’s been a restaurant operating at the site since 1952. Wiesner’s had the business on the market for about a year with no bites. But in the past few weeks he’s seen steady interest, from one potential buyer in particular.

Tiffany Cravatta, owner of the neighboring Blackhawk Steak Pit restaurant and a real estate broker, shares Wiesner’s optimism about the future of the Maxson Restaurant.

“It’s a great place, a beautiful building,” she said. “It’ll sell fairly quickly.”

The restaurant’s hook, Wiesner said, is the view. When he rebuilt, he put in tiered seating in the dining room, so there’s no bad seat in the house. Patrons this time of year can enjoy panoramic views of the autumn leaves through picture windows that line the building alongside the river.

Over the years, the site has hosted countless weddings, retirement parties and family reunions on the expansive deck outside the restaurant. And busloads of visitors took trips on the riverboat docked at the site.

“We’re devastated,” said Jethny Edmonson, manager at the Paddle Wheel Inn next door to the Maxson Restaurant.

The two entities have worked hand-in-hand since the Paddle Wheel Inn opened in the mid-1990s. But since the news of Maxson’s closing came out, Edmonson said all of the upcoming wedding traffic booked at the hotel is cancelled.

Page 2 of 2 - “The future of our business is up in the air. We don’t know how we can be in business without (Maxson),” she said.

Edmonson said ripples from the restaurant closing will be felt throughout the Oregon community, since visitors to Maxson usually visited other local establishments, too.

“Route 2 was closed for the past two years with the (road) expansion and we lost a lot of driving traffic from that,” Edmonson said. “Things were supposed to be picking up for us.”

“In light of the news, the owners just recently put the Paddle Wheel Inn up for sale, too. ... Anybody interested could also buy it and run the pair as one unit.”

Wiesner got his start at Maxson as captain of the Pride of Oregon riverboat. He ran the boat for three years and then bought the business when the former owner passed away.

Since he took over the business, Wiesner estimates he’s had just one vacation away. He feels compelled to be on site to ensure every special event held there runs smoothly.

“Now my kids are screaming at me to retire,” he said, referring to his three sons who all live close by. “I promised the kids a year ago ... and I’m going to stick to my word.”

Cravatta said she’s talked to many customers who are sad to see the Maxson closing and wonder why.

“I think it’s just a time thing,” she said. “He’s a great guy. And he’s worked very hard there and made it a great place. He deserves to retire and enjoy his time.”